This will be the first in a series of blogs addressing the dangers of excessive alcohol use and how it can not only ruin lives, but kill.

Do you believe that all the banter about the dangers of alcohol is a bunch of hooey? Are you aware that they kind of alcohol we drink, ethyl alcohol, is toxic to the human body? If you or someone you know has consumed too much alcohol for their liver to process, you have experienced or witnessed alcohol poisoning which can be lethal.

Do you know someone whose life is or was adversely effected by too much alcohol? I meet hundreds of people every month whose lives, health and relationships have been compromised by alcoholic beverages.

Alcoholism effects people from all walks of life. It effects people from every race, religion and gender.

How Deadly?

Just how deadly is alcohol? The World Health Organization (WHO) estimates that alcohol is responsible for killing 2.5 million people per year. For those of you math majors, you can figure it out - that means almost 7,000 die every single day (6,849) because of alcohol. That is almost 5% of all deaths globally that can be attributed to alcohol.

Does that make you take a second to reflect?

WHO says the harmful use of alcohol is now the third leading risk factor for illness and death from non-communicable and communicable disease.

I hope this first entry into the "alcohol kills" blog series makes you stop and consider your personal drinking habits and the habits of those around you. I would also recommend taking an 8 hour online alcohol awareness class to get really educated on the subject.